Final Highlights of Pigging in Shanghai (Part 3)

Post 1 – FUK 1039

Our final day & night in Shanghai was the equivalent of commiting a calorie suicie, 3 meals within the space of 12 hours consisting of very high calorie, cholesterol food. Within such short period of time, we visited FUK 1039 (福 1039 上海),  Ah Lang Mein (阿娘面) Xiao Yang Pan Fried Dumpling (小杨生煎馆), with the first an upscale restaurant & the latter 2 are a complete down to earth foodie paradise containingly awesome & very interesting typical Shanghaiese food on offer. Since our wedding photoshoot has been completed, we went wild on the food & ordered as much as we could possible in all 3 places, just letting loose of ourselves really.

A name as FUK 1039 (福 1039上海), you know you are in for a bit of a trouble! An authentic Shanghainese home-style restaurant with the interior decoration which looked like an 19th century Shanghai style 3-storey French colonial style building. Eating in this restaurant resembled eating at home, so warm & comfortable but too bad there isn’t an indoor smoking ban in China as the furniture & wall stank of Double Happiness Cigarettes. The menu wasn’t anything exciting as the dishes are all traditional Shanghainese dishes with slight Western touches & presented in a rather Western manner which tourists & expats will rave about as always. We arrived at the restaurant at 1900pm on a Tuesday evening & the restaurant was full-house, good sign! What was better, the Chinese dude on the next table was already wasted when we sat down, LURVVVLY! Back to the food, some of my highly recommended dishes are:

Old Shanghai Style Smoked Fish (老上海熏鱼) - Possibly the best smoked fish (served cold) as of date which I had in Shanghai. Soft & tender in the flesh, sweet & juicy flavour upon the first bite. The fish is first deep-fried which is then marinated with a special sweet sauce, this was a special dish & I highly recommend this to you all!

Ice Chilled Chinese Yellow Wine Chicken (冰镇黄酒鸡) - Priced at NT200, you expect this to be a wonderful dish & well, it did not disappoint! When the dish arrived to our table, the intensity of the Chinese medicine was mind-blowing, such pungent smell which paired so incredibly well with the chicken. Unlike Hua Diao Wine (花雕), the Chinese Yellow Wine is also higher in alcohol volume which gave the chicken a real good kick! The pile of ice sitting on the top of the chicken also nicely chilled the chicken, giving it a fresh & ice-cool taste in the palate! Great Dish!

Red Braised Pork (红烧肉) – Proclaimed as Shanghai’s #1 Red Braised Pork & a signature dish at FUK 1039 (priced at NT330 per set), this is a must try. For those that are put off by the sight of grease, turn away. Expect a wholesome Chinese dish as such to be extremely fatty & oily – check & check! Presentation was in a traditional wine jar & the colour & shininess was extremely appealing in the eye. Despite the cubes of the braised pork of equal thickness between the fat & meat looking rather greasy, the texture of the pork was lean & very flavourful whereby the seasoning & marinated sauce infused completely with the pork! Dig deep into the wine jar, a pleasant surprise in a boiled egg at the bottom, as much surprise as a Kinder Egg for sure!

Lion Head Soup (獅子頭) – Name sounds frightening, Lion Head Soup is basically a meat-ball soup whereby the meat balls are mixed with crab meat, pork, pork fat & shrimp paste which are slowly brought to the boil in chicken broth. Simple dish this is but you will be surprised to how many restaurants can mess up this soup. Here, the Meat Ball is GIGANTIC, literally around the size of my fist. The Chefs were generous with the crab & shrimp paste as I expect 90% Pork + Pork fat & 10% the rest but at least I could taste it in every mouthful! Quite possibly the world’s most hearty “soup” & definitely one worth ordering!

Other dishes we ordered at Fuk 1039 were plainly ordinary such as the Xiao Long Baos, Pan Fried Dumplings, Steamed Fish etc. As a restaurant itself, Fuk 1039 is ordinary with highly inflated price tag which we paid around RMB1600 for 6 guests, by Shanghai’s living standards is somewhat equivalent to one’s 1/2 month wages. Beautiful interior & its location & building is truly unique, unlike anything you experience in Hong Kong. Definitely a restaurant to schmooze your clients, take your missus for a romantic meal (don’t sit next to the Chinese business guys) but if you are looking for some real, proper Shanghaiese cuisine, this is not the restaurant which I will recommend.

Catch our next post on Ah Lang Mein (阿娘面) Xiao Yang Pan Fried Dumpling (小杨生煎馆) real soon on Geoff’s Twitchen!

Address: 1039 Yu Yuan Road, Chang Ning District (长宁区愚园路1039号)

Tel: 021-52371878

Quality of Food: ***

Value for Money: **